Arizona-Mexico Border Crossings

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data provides summary statistics for incoming crossings at the U.S.-Mexican border at the port level. Data are available for trucks, trains, containers, buses, personal vehicles, passengers, and pedestrians. Border crossing data are collected at border ports by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The data only reflect the number of vehicles, containers, passengers or pedestrians entering the United States. Customs and Border Protection does not collect comparable data on outbound crossings. Users seeking data on outbound vehicles may therefore want to review data from individual bridge operators, border state governments, or the Mexican and Canadian governments.

The border crossing/entry data do not measure the number of unique vehicles, containers, passengers, or pedestrians that enter the United States. Rather, the data are the total amount of crossings that occur in a given month or year. For example, one drayage truck operating on the southern border may cross through the port of Laredo, Texas ten times a day as it loads and unloads shipments between the United States and Mexico.

Visualization Notes:

Most individuals cross the Arizona-Mexico border as passengers in personal vehicles or as pedestrians. The number of passengers in personal vehicles has generally been decreasing since 2002 and the number of pedestrians crossing the border has been decreasing since 2007.

Visualization Notes:

The majority of rail containers that cross the Arizona-Mexico border are loaded at the time of crossing.

Data Source

U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data; based on data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection, OMR database.http://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/TBDR_BC/TBDR_BC_Index.html